T. R. Stockdale Explained

Thomas Ringland Stockdale
State:	Mississippi
District:	6th
Term Start:	March 4, 1887
Term End:	March 3, 1895
Predecessor:	Henry Smith Van Eaton
Successor:	Walter McKennon Denny
Birth Date:	28 March 1828
Birth Place:	Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death Place:	Summit, Mississippi, U.S.
Resting Place:	Woodlawn Cemetery, Summit, Mississippi, U.S.
Party:	Democratic
Alma Mater:	University of Mississippi

Thomas Ringland Stockdale (March 28, 1828  - January 8, 1899) was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi from 1886 to 1895, and a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1896 to 1897.

Biography

Born at West Union Church near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Stockdale graduated from Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in 1856 and received a master's degree in 1859.^{[1] [2]} He taught school in Pike County, Mississippi,^[3] received his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1859 and practiced in Woodville, Mississippi.^{[2] [4]}

During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army. Enlisting as a private in the 16th Mississippi Infantry in 1861,^[2] he was promoted to lieutenant, captain and major, and served as regimental adjutant. He later commanded a battalion in the 4th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment and then served as the regiment's second in command with the rank of lieutenant colonel.^{[5] [6]}

After the war Stockdale resumed the practice of law in Summit, Mississippi. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868. He was also a Democratic presidential elector in 1872 and 1884.^[7]

Stockdale was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1886 and served four terms, March 4, 1887 to March 3, 1895. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894.^{[8] [9] [10] [11]}

In 1896 Stockdale was appointed by Governor Anselm J. McLaurin to fill a vacancy as a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court and he served until 1897.^{[2] [12] [13]}

He died in Summit, Mississippi on January 8, 1899, and was interred in Summit's Woodlawn Cemetery.^{[14] [15] [16]}

Stockdale's home has been preserved by the Summit Historical Society, and the grounds of his home also contain a memorial to Stockdale.^[17]

Notes and References

1. Richard Zuczek, Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era, Volume 1, 2006, page 613
2. Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. XI (1899), p. 515.
3. Firebird Press, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi Volume 2, Part 2, 1999, pages 840 to 841
4. John Howard Brown, The Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 7, page 219
5. Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta Quarterly, January, 1891, page 194
6. Broadfoot Publishing, Confederate Military History: Mississippi, 1987, page 481
7. Dunbar Rowland, Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Volume 2, 1907, page 734
8. Thomas William Herringshaw, Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, 1901, page 894
9. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, 1904, pages 315 to 317
10. Atlanta Constitution, The Campaign in Mississippi: Populists Are Making a Fight but Without Hope, October 8, 1894
11. New York Times, Missouri Democratic; They Elect Twelve Out of the Fifteen Members of Congress, November 7, 1894
12. [Leslie H. Southwick|Leslie Southwick]
13. Mississippi Supreme Court, Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of Mississippi, Volume 74, 1898, page iii
14. Star Publishing Company, Reunion Proceedings of the Jefferson Class of '56, 1902, page 28
15. Thomas E. Spencer, Where They're Buried, 2009, page 213
16. Baltimore Sun, Ex-Judge Stockdale Dead, January 10, 1899
17. http://summithistory.com/Home.php Summit Historical Society